Generally, this kind of fishing reel is so constructed that it is operated to engage the clutch mechanism to transmit a driving force from the drive mechanism to the spool through the spool shaft to thereby wind the fishing line onto the spool. In turn, the fishing reel is operated to disconnect the clutch mechanism to make the spool shaft freely rotatable for the purpose of casting.
Upon casting, the fishing line wound onto the spool is drawn out by the aid of weight of a rig put at the utmost end of the fishing line. It happens that the speed of free rotation of the spool becomes higher than that of the fishing line which is drawn out especially at the initial stage of drawing-out of the fishing line immediately after that the fishing line is drawn from the spool and/or at a later stage before the thrown rig hits the water, thereby causing a problem of backlash which loosens or slackens the wound line on the spool so that line snags by itself and is caught between spool and the reel body.
To prevent the backlash of fishing line upon the casting, a conventional solution employs a magnet brake comprising an electric conductor and a magnet, and uses a cast-control member which is adapted to contact with an end face of spool shaft for applying a resistance to rotation of the spool shaft. The magnet brake is so constructed that one of the electric conductor and the magnet is provided at a rotation member such as a spool which rotates together with the spool shaft. The other one is provided at the reel body, and an adjusting member for adjusting a braking force of the magnet brake is mounted to the reel body at one axial end side of the spool shaft, so that one of the electric conductor and the magnet is rotated to produce a rotating magnetic flux which thereby produces an eddy current, which applies a reverse force to rotation of the rotation member according to Fleming's left-hand rule so as to impart a resistance to rotation of the spool.
Meanwhile, the cast-control member is screwed mainly with the reel body and is rotatable to thereby adjust a rotation resistance applied to the spool shaft.
Conventionally, the magnet brake and the cast-control member both are applied to a one fishing reel. The adjusting member of the magnet brake is, generally, provided at the axial one side of the spool shaft in the reel body, and the cast-control member is provided at the axial other side of the spool shaft therein, so that it is impossible to operate unitedly and simultaneously the adjusting member and cost-control member and it is necessary for the angler to shift his grip of the fishing rod supporting the reel so as to selectively operate the two, resulting in a poor control efficiency and inconvenience in use.
In other words, since the magnet brake automatically applies a resitance to the spool correspondingly to rotation thereof thanks to occurence of the eddy current as abovesaid and the braking force of the magnet brake increases in proportion to the speed of rotation of the spool, the brake applies a highest braking force to the spool at the initial stage of drawing-out of the fishng line immediately after that the fishing line is drawn out from the spool when the speed of rotation of the spool becomes highest upon casting. In turn, the braking force becomes lower at the later stage of drawing-out of the fishing line before the thrown fishing rig comes on the water when the speed of rotation of the spool becomes lower in comparison with the abovesaid initial stage.
Meanwhile, the rotation resistance applied by the cast-control member has a magnitude of braking force which can be set freely and optionally. Thus, when it is desired to perform casting most suitably, it is necessary at the initial stage to minimize the braking force by the cast-control member because the braking force by the magnet brake becomes higher at the initial stage immediately after the fishing line is first drawn out from the spool so that the braking force by operation of the magnet brake is enough for the purpose at this stage. In turn, it is necessary at the later stage of drawing-out of the fishing line to operate the cast-control member so as to make up for the smaller magnetic braking force, or operate the adjusting member of the magnet brake so as to increase braking force thereof, because the braking force given by the magnet brake becomes lower at the later stage. In other words, operation of the cast-control member and the adjusting member of the magnet brake should be made upon and during casting, and it is preferable to operate unitedly the cast-control member and the adjusting member in relation with each other. However, each of the adjusting member of the magnet brake and the cast-control member in the conventional reel are provided on opposite sides respectively of the reel body, so that it is hard to perform a most suitable casting.